Lily-Rose Depp (The King) plays Jocelyn, an up-and-coming pop star looking for her second wind after a catastrophic meltdown. With her mother deceased, she needs a win, but when a salacious bombshell threatens to implode her career, the counsel of her co-managers Chaim (Hank Azaria) and Destiny (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) isn’t enough to keep her from dipping a toe into trouble to find out her mettle. Being pulled in all directions, she’s at the mercy of record label exec Nikki Katz (Jane Adams), publicist Benjamin (Dan Levy), and Live Nation representative Andrew Finklestein (Eli Roth), to name a few, leaving this girl to play in the gnarled web of ‘Wish.com Frank Booth’ svengali Tedros (Abel Tesfaye).
Her best friend/assistant Leia (Rachel Sennot) and creative director Xander (Troye Sivan) are the two closest in her inner circle, yet couldn’t feel farther away. The stakes couldn’t be higher but with her comeback single as the albatross around her neck, the pieces of this puzzle couldn’t be more out of focus.
With background dancer wunderkind Dyanne (Jennie Kim) one choreographed step closer to the forefront, Vanity Fair journalist Talia (Hari Nef) arrives on the eve of what could possibly be the biggest comeback of the decade to profile Joss.
The poor girl is pulled every which way. Do we even care?
Join me and fellow staff writer Norton in our journey to patently dissect the pilot episode of the new series The Idol (Max) titled “Pop Tarts & Rat Tales” that dares to ask the question– Is one episode too much in a five-fucking-episode series?
1.5/5 Stars.
ADDENDUM: Hindsight is the mother of all clarity. I’m giving the episode a one-star, adding to Norton’s half-star. My bristling has not subsided and you’ll hear why I don’t understand the function or benefit of The Idol‘s existence at all. Pettiness for entertainment’s sake is fun, but bad trash TV is detrimental to all.
